Excuse me while I have a little rant and a cry

[addictedismoving]

We're ment to be moving house, we agreed a price on our hose and all was good, found a house we really like and so far so good. We made it very clear we needed to be moved before christmas and everyone was very happy with this.

We got on with finalising our mortgage and sorting our searches, our buyers sent round a surveyer and we assumed it was all going well.

Then on the 28th of November I phoned our agent and asked her to find out how far the buyer had got on (they are the beginning of the chain and the people we are buying from are going into rented accomadation) and if we could speak dates, (before christmas meaning beginning of december not chirstmas eve!)

The agent phoned back a few hours later to say buyers hadnt yet paid for survey, so it hadnt been handed over, they hadnt yet finalised mortgage or paid for searches. the agent assured us however that the buyer would be ready on the 19th to complete. after many many phonecalls to the agent (at least 1 a day) and my solicitor, the completion date was pushed back to the 20th, on the 17th our buyers still hadnt got the final mortgage agreement so we had to finally give up and accept we were staying for christmas.

I just phoned the agent and asked if the mortgage offer has come through and whats going on and they know NOTHING. What they said was 'its the first day were back, we wont know anything till at least this afternoon'

I'm so annoyed and angry, the agent just keeps saying, its really not their fault. really? REALLY? well just who's fault is it? the people who are selling their house to us have practacally moved out, they have a sofa and matress on the bedroom floor (we know this is true, have seen it when we went to apoligise to them for not being able to move before christmas) and are desprate to move. We are ready to go, all paperwork has been signed by us ready for our solicitor to send as soon as they are ready, so yes, YES this is all their fault.

Who waits till the month they want to move before sorting the mortgage and searches. I know they are first time buyers but really? We have literally had to direct tehm to do everything form appoint a solicitor to paying for the searches and obtining a mortgage. I'm just beyond angry atm.

And you may think its a silly thing to be angry at, but I am ill. I have a 2year old, a 11 month old and have no support network here. I have no friends and no family. We're moving 90 miles south to be around family and old friends so on my really bad days I have people I can turn to. Dh goes to aberdeen on the 11th to work and I really will be all on my own. We really need to move before that or I am completely screwed.

I'm planning on ringing back at 12pm and finding out if they have spoken to the buyers as in actually phoned as opposed to just e-mailing them (which is what they keep trying to get away with)

Thankyou if you managed to get through all that! I just need a moment to go ARGGGHHHHHH. now I can get on with it

estate agents are rubbish for this. You need to find out if your buyers have a solicitor instructed. If they don't, there is little likelihood they are serious about buying your house, sorry. FTBs are sometimes skint and want to do their own conveyancing, but if they haven't got a mortgage arranged (even in principle?) or a survey done it sounds like they really haven't started. If so, ditch them. It is difficult enough for a normal house purchase to go through in 6 weeks.

If I was you, I would say to the EA you are pissed off that they have got you a buyer in no position to proceed when you made a point of explaining that quick completion was important to you. (you need to check your agreement with the EA in case they are expecting a fee even though they haven't actually helped you sell your house). Get round other EAs and ask them if they have buyers looking for a place like yours for a quick move. They (buyers) will however know that you are now desperate, and will be sniffing for a reduction.

I guess you are keeping your vendors informed too, that is important. Good luck though, it is truly crap to be going through this with imminently being on your own. Can any of your family support network come up to you (in shifts!) once your DH is working away?

Presumably your solicitor has their solicitor's details. Could they talk to each other today?

You need to start ringing the EA and your solicitor every hour on the hour and make sure your vendor knows you are doing this to expedite the process.

Solicitors will have only just reopened since before Christmas so it is they who should be chasing each other and giving you an update.

agree soliciters should be able to help - are you in scotland as the system is different there - if you are not and they havn't made a move it could be - and I am very sorry about this - that they are not going to proceed

not in scotland, just spoke to agents buyers have pulled out. I should have seen this coming. cant type screen too blurry. be back when I'm not a blubbering mess

:(. We had this happen over Christmas once.

oh really sorry to hear that, addicted. xx

Your agents sound rubbish, I still think that sharpening their focus by getting a competing agent to sell your house would be worth doing.

I really feel for u. Moving is so stressful and frustrating. Unfortuntely this happens a lot at the moment especially with first time buyers. They must have known this before christmas. Try and be proactive. Did your house sell quickly first time, put it straight back on, maybe different ea.

Oh no sorry to hear that. I hope you find another buyer very soon and it all goes smoothly. I never understood why people said moving house was stressful until I got into the buying and selling game. I thought they meant moving day was stressful.

Sending you kind thoughts..... it is a horrible horrible process, no wonder people dont trust each other any more, it is all a game of smoke and mirrors - our buyers pulled out on exchange date a few years ago, we had to re pack the house, and put the children back in their original school, horribly stressful and unpleasant. Have a good cry, and then get yourself to another EA and get the house back on the market.... things often happen for a reason which when you are in the thick of it, you can't rationalise... sounds trite I know, but something better will happen for you. Try and keep your seller in the loop as well so they know it is not your fault. Keep going.

Tenton, we did that in order to get it sold in the first place! we bought on a 2nd agent and within a week we had 3 offers on the table!
I've contacted the other agent again and they are phoning the other person who put in an offer and if they are not intrested will get it on the market asap.

I was on the market about 6 months before it sold last time, so we just need to again be proactive, drop the price in feb if no one is intrested and hope we get another buyer. we sold once we can sell again.

I spoke to our seller first thing and explained the situation, I've been ringing them all along to tell them what happened, they are gutted, understandably and are going to have a conversation this evening and decide what they want to do.

I can only imagine the mortgage didnt come through. they had the agreement in principle, they just waited before seeing it through, our solicitor is going to talk to their solicitor today to see what can be salvaged and sold on to new buyers. (searches, survey etc)

I'm of to have a really good tidy up, unpack some boxes and redress the house. EVERYTHING was in boxes as we were ment to move last month.

gutted. gutted. gutted.

OMG, itss been anemotional rollercoaster of a day!

We had a call from the other agent, the other buyer is still very much intrested and really wants it! she has put in an offer. its much lower than the one we accepted, so I'm currently negotiating on it. We are willing to accept lower, but because we are already in the process of buying another one, we were relying on that money to buy, so dont have much room for negotiation. However, right now I'm willing to do whatever it takes to secure this and wrap it up asap!

addicted - so sorry to hear that this is such a nightmare for you. I really hope that these other buyers will come in high enough for you with their offer.

We're at the other end of the process, having just moved house. I had NO IDEA how stressful the whole thing would be. It's a crazy system isn't it? It's all worth it now though, I'm thinking , "maybe we'll just stay here forever, I don't want to have to go through that again...".

Hold on in there.

Oh fingers crossed for you. I came in a little late but have moved in the last month so it is fresh in my mind!

until you've got a signed contract, words mean nothing

new buyer wont negotiate, so this morning I am on the phone to the mortgage company trying to sort something out, luckly we arent mortgaged to our max and there is still money to play with.

I just have to stay stromng and get through this. I can crumble and cry and hide from the world when its all over.

today I need to

• sort the mortgage
• un pack boxes in the kitchen
• sort out the kitchen cupboards (everything is everywhere as 'its just for a few more days')
• do a big food shop (if were going to be here a while longer I need to get food in)

piglet, I'm starting to get very bitter too.
we moved around alot when we were renting and i used to think 'whats all the fuss about, if you're organised it all goes smoothly' then I bought a house!

I can do this I cn stay strong for just a while longer.

Have you tried to negotiate down the house you are buying - see if they'll split the cost with you? So sorry this is happening.

we negotiated them down alot initially so we didnt think it was fair to them to try and get them down anymore.

We've sorted the mortgage and been approved (yea!) still need to sortz the kitchen and do a food shop, will tackle boxes later.

brilliant - have been following your rollercoaster !